I attended the
excellent International Dementia Conference “Coming of Age “at the end of
October in London.
This was
organised by Dementia Services Development Centre, Stirling and had an
incredible wealth of speakers, activities and events to choose from.
Maureen O'Neill (FiOP) and Jenny Henderson
(Alzheimers Scotland) gave a presentation on the joint DVD 'Spirituality - have you found any yet' in one of the workshops during this
conference. It was well
received and it gave us the opportunity to answer questions and to
distribute the DVD to a wide audience.
I particularly
enjoyed learning about the benefits of good design in care homes, be it the
importance of the acoustic environment, the health benefits of real daylight
and the importance of balconies and gardens, or the impact the overall design
can have on people’s ability to navigate round a building, to feel safe and yet
included.
I was also
impressed with the range of creative activities being explored to share with people
with dementia, like Qigong, circle dancing and clowning. I was also encouraged
by the sessions on supporting carers.
But for me, the
highlight was the very last speaker (alas many had gone by then and missed him)
Professor Stephen Post, from Stony Brook University USA.
After two days of densely packed, often demanding technical or medical
information, his talk was like a balm to the soul. He has spent many years researching,
teaching, writing and speaking on the problem of the “dehumanization of healthcare”
and the importance of compassionate care in “the art of healing and the
experience of recovery”, focusing on altruism, compassionate love, ethics and
the care of people with dementia.
He has written
many books e.g. “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” and there are lots of
clips of him talking available on the internet. I urge you to look him up.
His talk for us
was “The enduring self in the deeply
forgetful; an ethics of care when a cure remains elusive” – it was
inspiring.
Mary
Moffett.
